The Merry Muses of Caledonia/The Mill, Mill, O

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THE MILL, MILL, O.

"The original," says Burns in the Glenriddel MS., "or at least a song evidently prior to Ramsay's, is still extant. It runs thus,

"'As I came down yon water side,' &c."

From this Burns evolved the "Soldier's Return."

 
As I came down yon water side,
And by yon shillin hill, O;
There I spied a bonny lass,
A lass that I lo'ed right weel, O.


The mill, mill, O, and the kill, kill, O,
An' the coggin' o' Peggy's wheel, O,
The sack and the seive, an' a' she did leave,
An' danced the miller's reel, O.


I spier'd at her, gin she could play,
But the lassie had nae skill, O;
An' yet she was nae a' to blame,
She pat it in my will, O.

The mill, mill, O, &c.



Then she fell o'er, an' sae did I,
An' danced the miller's reel, O,
Whene'er that bonny lassie comes again,
She shall hae her maut ground weel, O.
 

The mill. mill. O. &c.